Who’s Sorry Now?

Saturday

Dec 15, 2012 at 12:01 AM

When I was in elementary school I was a bit of a wuss. As I grew older and entered high school, I matured into a full blown nerd. Anyway, as a wuss, I avoided fist fighting, not all fighting, just fist fighting. I was an expert in getting into fights with words and I was highly skilled in using words to beat my opponent. It was primarily because of these playground work fights in third grade that I was able to develop a high skill of using profanity to make my case and win my fight. Most men didn’t develop the skill that I had in elementary school until they were in high school or even the military. I was a master of using profanity to whoop anyone who foolishly engaged me in playground arguments.

I remember one rather feisty playground word fight in particular. The playground supervisor saw a couple of us pushing, shoving, and swearing at each other. She wanted to teach us a lesson so she hauled us to the office and turned us in to the principal who in turn gave us a lecture on the value of friendships, and how swearing was not the way an educated person talked. I thought to myself that being in 3rd grade is probably why we weren’t educated since we hadn’t had the benefit of Algebra, Chemistry, or Biology. Anyway, we listened to her line of Bull (I have cleaned this up since I am now educated) and then she said, “I want you young men to apologize to each other and shake hands.”

Whoa, we weren’t sorry and shaking hands wasn’t going to clear the air. You see, saying you’re sorry when you’re not sorry is lying and even though I used profanity, I was smart enough to know that lying was not something a person should do. Saying you’re sorry when you are not sorry doesn’t mean you’re sorry.

Recently, a Hip-Hop singer from South Korea named Psy who has a big hit titled “Gangnam Style.” It’s the most viewed music video on YouTube and he was a big sensation. However, it was discovered that several years ago he made some very nasty comments in song about the US military and their wives and children. Guess what he did? He said he was sorry but I can’t believe he meant it. He was sorry that his record sales would drop and his income would be hurt. The DIxie Chicks made a poor choice of comments about President Bush several years ago. It was an outrage on Country and Western radio. BUt the Chicks refused to apologize because they were not sorry. I think the stuff they said was in very bad taste and I stopped listening to their CD’s but I respected their integrity for not apologizing for something for which they were not sorry.

There is a long list of apologies from celebrities including Mel Gibson, Tiger Woods, Kristen Stewart, Hugh Grant, David Letterman, and even Brenda Lee. The list goes on and on with people saying they’re sorry but usually it’s for getting caught and not for what they did. If you are truly sorry you should apologize, but once you’re out of elementary school the principal can’t make you say you are sorry and shake hands no matter what kind of language you use.

lcarver44

When I was in elementary school I was a bit of a wuss. As I grew older and entered high school, I matured into a full blown nerd. Anyway, as a wuss, I avoided fist fighting, not all fighting, just fist fighting. I was an expert in getting into fights with words and I was highly skilled in using words to beat my opponent. It was primarily because of these playground work fights in third grade that I was able to develop a high skill of using profanity to make my case and win my fight. Most men didn’t develop the skill that I had in elementary school until they were in high school or even the military. I was a master of using profanity to whoop anyone who foolishly engaged me in playground arguments.

I remember one rather feisty playground word fight in particular. The playground supervisor saw a couple of us pushing, shoving, and swearing at each other. She wanted to teach us a lesson so she hauled us to the office and turned us in to the principal who in turn gave us a lecture on the value of friendships, and how swearing was not the way an educated person talked. I thought to myself that being in 3rd grade is probably why we weren’t educated since we hadn’t had the benefit of Algebra, Chemistry, or Biology. Anyway, we listened to her line of Bull (I have cleaned this up since I am now educated) and then she said, “I want you young men to apologize to each other and shake hands.”

Whoa, we weren’t sorry and shaking hands wasn’t going to clear the air. You see, saying you’re sorry when you’re not sorry is lying and even though I used profanity, I was smart enough to know that lying was not something a person should do. Saying you’re sorry when you are not sorry doesn’t mean you’re sorry.

Recently, a Hip-Hop singer from South Korea named Psy who has a big hit titled “Gangnam Style.” It’s the most viewed music video on YouTube and he was a big sensation. However, it was discovered that several years ago he made some very nasty comments in song about the US military and their wives and children. Guess what he did? He said he was sorry but I can’t believe he meant it. He was sorry that his record sales would drop and his income would be hurt. The DIxie Chicks made a poor choice of comments about President Bush several years ago. It was an outrage on Country and Western radio. BUt the Chicks refused to apologize because they were not sorry. I think the stuff they said was in very bad taste and I stopped listening to their CD’s but I respected their integrity for not apologizing for something for which they were not sorry.

There is a long list of apologies from celebrities including Mel Gibson, Tiger Woods, Kristen Stewart, Hugh Grant, David Letterman, and even Brenda Lee. The list goes on and on with people saying they’re sorry but usually it’s for getting caught and not for what they did. If you are truly sorry you should apologize, but once you’re out of elementary school the principal can’t make you say you are sorry and shake hands no matter what kind of language you use.